This invention relates to the field of musical instruments and, more particularly, to a vibrato device for an electric guitar.
Musicians have long known to impart a desirable "vibrato" effect to musical notes by slightly varying the pitch of the note as it sounded. This effect is highly desirable to listeners of stringed instruments. On fretless stringed instruments, such as violins, the musician typically imparts vibrato by holding a string against the neck of the instrument and rocking the finger holding the string back and forth along the longitudinal axis of the string as the string is played. The speaking length of the string, and thus the pitch, are thereby varied at a desired rate to produce vibrato.
On fretted stringed instruments, such as electric guitars, different techniques have been necessary to impart vibrato. It is known to vary the pitch of a note by holding a string against the neck of the guitar with a finger and moving the string back and forth along the length of the fret as the string is played. However, this method has limitations. Achieving a desired vibrato effect in this way can be more difficult for the musician compared with fretless stringed instruments. Moreover, by moving the strings repeatedly in a direction perpendicular to their longitudinal axis, tunings could be more frequently required. This method could also be more difficult if the musician were holding multiple strings against the neck of the guitar, such as when playing a chord.
To overcome the difficulties of imparting vibrato to notes played on the electric guitar, mechanical vibrato devices have been developed. As known to those skilled in the art, such vibrato devices generally consist of a bridge assembly for holding the strings that is adapted to pivot continuously between two positions and thereby to vary the pitch of the strings. The vibrato device is typically biased to one position by springs. A vibrato hand lever extending above the guitar front surface is normally coupled with the vibrato device, which is then actuated by depressing the vibrato lever. In operation, a guitar musician plays the desired notes with the playing hand and then moves the playing hand away from the strings to grasp and actuate the vibrato lever. The lever is normally pivotally coupled with the vibrato device to enable the lever to swing out of the way when not in use.
The typical vibrato device can limit a guitar player's ability to impart vibrato. The vibrato lever must often be first rotated into an operable position prior to use, which can undesirably impede playing. The orientation of the conventional vibrato lever, extending upwardly and outwardly from the front surface of the guitar, also makes it difficult to quickly impart vibrato without maintaining a constant hold of the lever and, in some instances, partially depressing it. However, maintaining a constant hold of the lever can interfere undesirably with playing. The same is true for maintaining the lever in a slightly depressed position. In both instances, the movement of the picking hand can be undesirably constrained. For example, a musician often wishes to play certain strings of the guitar while muting others with the palm of the picking hand. As known to those skilled in the art, such muting can be necessary to prevent the strings not played from producing unwanted ringing when the guitar is played through an electric amplifier. Imparting vibrato during such "pick and mute" playing can be particularly awkward, if not impossible, with a conventional vibrato device because the conventional lever may prevent the musician from properly muting the desired strings. Additionally, as known to those skilled in the art, striking the vibrato lever can impart a desirable "warble" to the sound of the strings, an effect commonly used in hard rock music. Striking the vibrato bar presently requires the musician to undesirably move the hand away from the strings, rendering simultaneous "pick and mute" playing nearly impossible.
Additionally, it can be desirable to vary by electronic means the sound produced by the strings of an electric guitar. A volume control, typically comprising a potentiometer, may be provided in the magnetic pickup circuit for the strings. Such a volume control is normally located on the front surface of the guitar. In addition, the electric guitar may be connected to an amplifier through a controller, such as the well-known "wah-wah" pedal. The controller can be actuated by the player's foot and may be configured to vary the volume, the phase or other properties of the sound produced by the strings.
A musician's use of such controllers during playing is subject to limitations. Rotating a potentiometer by hand to a desired volume setting without interrupting play is difficult. Similarly, foot-operated controllers typically cannot be actuated with a high degree of precision. Thus, at present, it is difficult to accurately synchronize the vibrato imparted by a vibrato device with effects imparted by a controller.
To overcome these and other limitations of the prior art, an improved vibrato device for an electric guitar is desirable to allow the musician to more easily impart vibrato and other effects to music played thereon.